[The value of combining multiple screwed plates in humeral shaft fractures]

The authors have reviewed 246 fresh fractures of the shaft of the humerus treated by primary plating over a period of 22 years. It has been customary to treat the majority of fractures of the shaft of the humerus by conservative means, with use of open reduction and fixation by a plate for complicated fractures with associated injuries, or in cases of nonunion. Over the period of review the authors have gradually increasing their use of primary plating as opposed to the traditional methods. They fell that the reliability of union, together with the early mobilisation and return of the arm to normal function, favours the use of this method. Their opinion is based on a careful analysis of their results.